Savour Kilkenny Food Festival

Next week sees the kick off of Savour Kilkenny Food Festival. Now in its 8th year, the city and county will be transformed into a food lovers’ heaven with a vibrant food village featuring Ireland’s top artisan producers as well as exciting dining events, demonstrations, panel discussions and plenty of family fun.

Celebrity chefs taking part include Kevin Dundon, Rory O’Connell, former Master Chef finalists Claire Ann O’Keefe, Green Saffron’s Arun Kapil, and Pichet’s Stephen Gibson. Kilkenny’s favourite chefs Edward Hayden of TV3 fame, and Anne Neary of Ryeland House Cookery School will also hold demos.

Savour Kilkenny 2014 promises plenty of debates, discussions and banter sessions. For the first time ever Savour Kilkenny will be turning the tables on some of Irelands best known food writers who will be swapping their pens for aprons and testing their culinary skills in the demo Can the Critics Cook?

Fresh from The Electric Picnic will be Thisisbanter.com <https://thisisbanter.com/> who are taking their unique style of lively debate to Savour Kilkenny Festival. Hosted by journalist, Jim Carroll, over two days the panel will discuss some of the hot food topics and issues of the day, with some of Ireland’s leading critics, writers and chefs. Back again due to popular demand is Meet the Makers at the food market where some of Kilkenny’s finest food producers will be discussing the stories behind their produce.

Also new this year will be hundreds of homes in Kilkenny opening their doors for a novel Night of 1,000 Feasts for this year’s Savour Kilkenny Food Festival. Details of the unique food event, which will take place in homes and communities all over the city and county on Sunday October 26th as part of a fundraiser for the Town of Food project, were revealed today. Local people are being asked to organise a FEAST – simple or extravagant – in their home, on their street, or in their community centre and to celebrate good food and friendship.
Savour Kilkenny also adopting a green theme this year and focusing on stopping food waste and helping to save households up to €700 on their food bills annually. Kilkenny County Council’s Environmental Awareness officer, Bernadette Moloney, will be on hand to discuss ways in which you can do just that.

Other Festival highlights include:
· A bustling Food Market attended by over 12,000 food lovers, featuring 85 artisan producers
· Cookery demonstrations with Special Olympics Ireland
· A Wine Goose Chase with Susan Boyle who will take festival goers through 2,000 years Irish wine history.
· Go Bonkers with Conkers – with The International Conkers Festival joining forces with Savour Kilkenny to bring young and old together in a battle for the title of Conker Champion 2014.
· Craft Beer and food pairings featuring local brewers Costellos, O’Haras, Knockdrinna cheese, and Fiona Uyema’s sushi.
· The Avonmore Food Art Competition with exhibits from secondary school children across the county.
· A Forgotten Skills Pavillion including apple-pressing, bee-keeping, butter-making, vegetable growing foraging and more.
· Young Producers Market featuring 60 budding young chefs showcase their foodie creations in MacDonagh Junction.
The festival will also feature some amazing dining experiences including the black and white masquerade dinner hosted in the Michelin star Lady Helen restaurant in Mount Juliet; Go Back in Time with The River Court Hotel, Lyrath Estate Hotel. A taste of the coast comes to the mid lands with a unique opportunity to sample a full six course seafood menu experience in the opulent setting of Kilkenny Design Centres, Anocht restaurant. Pascal Rossignol of Le Caveau will present a special selection of wine as the perfect accompaniment to the fish dish.
For details of the full programme go to www.savourkilkenny.com